Something that really gets me is the trendy progressive. I really cannot stand the kind of person who claims to be a forward-thinking, globally aware, politically conscious, mildly intelligent individual all for the sake of jumping on the bandwagon. I mean, fads are bad enough in almost any scenario, and when the fad-followers are impeding any kind of actually progress or change being made (through lack of dedication, inexperience, surface knowledge (only) of too few issues) it's even worse.
I'm sure that most people know who I'm talking about. The kind of person who starts, or gets involved in, a debate that he or she doesn't really understand the issue on, or makes the same irrelevant, repetitive point every time you speak to them.
Now, I may have come off as a little aggressive about these kinds of people. That is not how I honestly want to convey my feelings on this subject. I bring this topic up because I think that one of the key elements that the progressive movement of our time is missing is widespread, effective education. We can talk and talk about making social and environmental changes all day, but until the knowledge that SOME have is shared with ALL, we will never be able to create any lasting, siginificant reform. Why sail a ship with a skeleton crew?
Jeez, that was one of the lamest metaphors ever. But, oh well. I guess it makes for a good closer.
I actually identify with one characteristic of your piece. I love this site, there are so many with such great ideas it's almost overwhelming. The problem I have is experiance. I dont have really any. I don't research my posts and therefore most of the time I sound extreamly uneducated.
Often I'll chip in my two cents on something, realize I'm completely out of my league and wish I could just delete the post I so carlessly made. But I'm getting better. I care about a lot of the opinions some people on this site have of me. I don't talk about anything that has to do with who I am aside from my thoughts and small geographical information as it pertains to posts, so as not to have anyone think of me by steryotypical standards.
When I post something I am always worried that it may sound as completly ignorant and stupid as a myspace blog. This is a good thing though. I capitalize everything that needs to be. I try to look up the correct spelling of things when I have time. I do a little reasearch here and there or clarify that i have not done any. I am progressing into the person I need to be to be the change I want to see in the world (who said that? lincon).
The point being, these people your talking about probably need to progress more than you do. I know that we cant all hold ourselves back to wait for everyone to catch up, but I have seen growth from everyone that has started actually posting( i.e. not just writing one blog or comment).
You are right though, being "progressive" has become a sort of trend.
I think it's really good that you are able to acknowledge that. It's important that we are able to point our own weaknesses as well as anyone else's. I'm not perfect, and sometimes I need to remind myself of that. We all could stand to educate ourselves more, there is too much information for any one person to know it all.
Another thing. If you feel like something is important enough for you to post here, then do it. Don't worry about it seeming too trivial ("myspace-worthy"). If it's important to you, then it's worth speaking up about. Don't let what someone else MAY think about it be your decisive factor. It comes down to you.
I pretty much agree with you...
...but, at least they're not jumping on the conservative bandwagon. Instead of getting angry at them, try to gently educate them on the subjects they're trying to debate so they actually know what they're talking about and know if they agree with the POV they're arguing.
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Please see my recent blog post, "Genocide and Student Activism": http://www.progressiveu.org/041447-genocide-and-student-activism
That is definitely something that I have to work on. I always get way too worked up when I get in these situations, because it really does piss me off. When I approach the situation aggressively, it almost always turns the other person off, no matter what. It is really important that I try to stay calm, because getting angry will not rectify the situation, where educating them would.